The Legend of the Ghost Train
'The Legend of the Ghost Train '''is an Adventures on Rails Halloween short that was released on 26 October 2015. Plot It was October and Halloween was right around the corner. The engines enjoyed this time and always looked forward to each other's Halloween stories. One day, Thomas arrived at Knapford for his last Branch Line train. "What a lovely evening!" he sighed. "And to finish it off, Toby's ghost story tonight." "Indeed. That sounds exciting," said Annie. "He always makes up great ones. I wonder what it will be about," added Clarabel. "So do I," replied Thomas. Then they heard the Guard's whistle and Thomas puffed slowly along the line and soon reached the Top Station. "Ah! Another long day brought to a great conclusion," sighed Thomas. "Now the good part." He shunted Annie and Clarabel into the carriage shed and went to his berth next to Percy. "You're just in time, Thomas. Toby's about to start," said Percy. Mavis had also come down from Anopha Quarry to listen to Toby's story and she, Daisy, Percy and Thomas payed close attention as Toby began . . . "A long time ago, here on Sodor. Even before Thomas arrived, several small tank engines named 'Coffee Pots' used to run this branch line. Most of you have probably heard about them. Anyways, they helped deliver supplies to the Viaduct which was then being constructed. Progress was going great and soon, they could deliver supplies to the other side. They, however, had to go at a certain speed limit, since the Viaduct's arches still needing strengthening. One night, a 'Coffee Pot' was going to deliver some supplies at night. It was dark and mist rose up above the Viaduct. As the engine approached the Viaduct, his light went off! He couldn't see! He went too fast, the Viaduct couldn't take his weight and then he FELL OFF THE VIADUCT AND INTO THE RAVINE BELOW WITH HIS CREW AND ALL THE TRUCKS! (quietly) He was never seen again. The mystery of the engine remains uncertain. Some say he drowned along with his crew. Others claim to have seen his remains washed up on the bay, but this was never proved to be his. Then, one night, men and another 'Coffee Pot' were working on the Viaduct, when suddenly they saw the ghost of the 'Coffee Pot' engine! He was trying to get to the other side, but didn't make it - and legend goes that he still comes back shrieking his whistle like a lost soul! Trying to get to the other side! But he never makes it . . . (scene switches to Ffarquhar Branch engines at their shed) Well, that's it! Good night!" "Ah, good story, ol' Toby," said Percy. "Stuff and nonsense, Percy. We know ghosts aren't real!" scoffed Thomas. "I know, but it made me shiver." (the engines fall asleep) Later, Thomas and Percy woke up to take the Mail Train. (scene is at Knapford Harbour) "Alright. I want the Little Western route tonight," said Thomas. "Fine, I'll go along the Main Line," replied Percy. Percy was soon making great time and was on route to the Viaduct . . . when suddenly, his light went out! "Darn it." "Great," complained the Fireman. "I'll get my toolbox and see if I can fix it." Percy was only a few meters off the Viaduct. Mist rose from below. Driver, Fireman and Guard all went up to fix it, but to no avail. "Seems like the bulb is fused. We'll need a new lamp," analysed the Fireman. "I'll radio telephone, Thomas," said the Driver and he ran quickly to the cab. He tried calling, but the signal was down. "That's odd," said the Driver. "Maybe they turned it off," suggested Percy. "That's ridiculous. There's no way he's finished his mail run so quickly. All engines are to have their radio on when there is crew member in or around the engine." "Let's try calling him by phone," suggested the Guard. "That's odd. There's no signal," said the Driver. "Mine's too," added the Fireman. "Same here," finished the Guard. Then, came an extraordinary surprise! (ghost engine of a 'Coffee Pot' appears) "IT'S! IT'S THE GHOST!" screamed Percy. "What is that!?" "Let's go back!" shouted Percy. "Right. We'll go slowly, we only have the Guard's light," said his Driver. Percy was terrified. "I know ghosts aren't real, but I saw it!" Luckily, at Maron, the Stationmaster had a spare lamp and Percy crossed the Viaduct without further mishaps. But he stayed at Vicarstown for the night. Next morning, he puffed out of the shed and saw Dodger at the station. "Dodger, you'll never guess what I saw last night!" "What did you see? Another dragon?" "No. Not that. Haven't you heard of the legend of the 'ghost train'?" "No." "Well, it's about an old engine who fell off the Viaduct. Legend goes that his ghost reappears trying to cross it." "Percy, you know there's no such things as ghosts." "I know, but get this; first my lamp went out. We tried contacting Thomas via radio telephone, but the signal was down, as well as their cell phone service. And then, out of the mist, I SAW THE ENGINE!" "That's impossible." "I know ghosts aren't real, but I saw it. Or maybe it was an optical illusion. I mean, there was a lot of mist and my light was so, yeah . . ." But Percy was beginning to doubt the story Toby had told was fake. When he returned to Knapford, he saw Thomas. "Hullo, Percy. Nice to see you again." "Thanks, Thomas. I need to talk to you." "Sure thing." "Last night when I was delivering the mail, my lamp went off near the Viaduct and as my crew was fixing it, I saw the ghost engine from Toby's story!" "What are you talking about!?" "I saw it with my own eyes! If it wasn't a ghost, then what was it!?!?!?" (short pause; Thomas tries to make out situation) "I can't disbelieve Percy," thought Thomas to himself. He could see that Percy was telling the truth. "There . . . there has to be a rational explanation for this." "Yeah." "Maybe, some of the older engines know about it. In fact, Paxton has to collect slate from the Blue Mountain Quarry in about half an hour. If I take it instead of him, I'll talk to Skarloey or Rheneas about him." "Good idea." So it was arranged and Thomas set off towards the Blue Mountain Quarry, with a lot in mind. (scene switches to Owen delivering trucks to the bottom) "Going down, next stop, the bottom! Hang in there, Thomas! About five minutes, Duncan's probably having some issues with the troublesome trucks." "Hullo, Thomas. Long time no see!" said Skarloey. "Hullo, Skarloey. (short pause) Do you remember much about your early days on Sodor?" "Not everything, but still plenty, like when I was younger, I quarrelled, refused to take trucks, oh insensible things." "Well, do you recall a 'Coffee Pot' that fell off the Viaduct?" "Well . . . yes, Thomas. There was an accident like that once." Thomas was surprised, he had not expected the story to be real. "Why do you ask, Thomas?" "Because last night, Percy was there and he claims to have seen the ghost engine." "That makes no sense. That the incident happened, true. I remember that because that accident put existence of what is now the North Western Railway in jeopardy." "OK, Thomas, your trucks are loaded!" called Owen. "Thanks, Owen. Thanks, Skarloey. (to himself, sarcastically) That clears a ton up." On his way, he was not sure if he should tell Percy or not. "If I do, he might get more scared than ever," he though nervously. Thomas met Percy at Dryaw. "Hullo, Thomas. Did you talk to Skarloey?" "Yes . . . and according to him, there was an accident like that." "What!? So the story is true!?" "Yes, but, still, maybe you just saw something." "Maybe . . ." "So what we'll do tonight is I'll take the Main Line route with the Mail Train." "OK, Thomas." Then, the two engines set off. That night, Thomas set off with the Mail Train right on time. He had not experienced any difficulties as he made his way to the Viaduct. "Well, nothing odd has happened to us so far," sighed Thomas with relief. Thomas crossed the Viaduct without any strange circumstances and reached Vicarstown without any difficulties. But on the way back was were it all began. On the way back to Ffarquhar, his crew decided to stop at Cronk to take on coal and water. But to their surprise the water column and coal bunker was completely empty. "That's odd," said his Fireman. "We'll see if there's any at Maron," said the Driver. So off they went. As Thomas reached the Viaduct he heard a shrill whistle. "What was that!?" "I don't know. Probably some fog horn," said his Driver. As Thomas approached the Viaduct, he saw a ghostly figure coming towards him! "Oh no! It's coming! IT'S REAL!" screamed Thomas and he raced back to Cronk as quickly as he could and stayed the night there. He came back in time for his morning train next morning. "Hullo, Thomas," said Percy. "Where were you last night? Was there a big delay?" "No," began Thomas. "I stayed the night at Cronk." "Why?" "Because you remember that ghost train you saw?" "Yeah." "Well, I saw it too!" "Oh no. This means Toby's ghost story is real!" "We don't know for sure! We need to big deeper into this story." "Maybe we could ask the newspaper company," suggested Thomas' Driver. "They've probably lots of articles stored from years back." "Good call," said Thomas. "We should also try to obtain blueprints of the Viaduct to see if it was faulty in design," added Percy. "Perhaps the Fat Controller's got some," said Percy's Driver. So Thomas' crew went to the newspaper company to try and search up any articles on the ghost train. Percy's crew went to the Fat Controller's office. "Blueprints? Hmm, oh yes. I've got some in my office." He quickly went to grab them. "These two I have are the earliest designs. One of them is not the best design and from what I know there were difficulties building it, legend goes that an engine come off because of that, but I'm not sure, really." (Percy and his crew look at each other) That evening at Ffarquhar, Thomas and his crew arrived. "Well, guys, look what we found." (holds up an article dated September 1903, titled 'Coffee Pot derails at Viaduct. Weak bridge supports are believed to be the cause') "Oh dear," said Percy. "These blueprints demonstrate how faulty the structure was too." "OK. So the story is true, but now we really need to get to inside on this ghost," said Thomas. "Well, look's like we're going ghost hunting!" "Ghost hunting? Don't be ridiculous," said Daisy. "It's true! We've seen it!" "Stuff and nonsense!" "You wait and see." The next day, Thomas and Percy wanted to get a head start on their mail route to have time to go 'ghost hunting'. "Can you believe these two?" Daisy told Toby. "They are being very silly engines about your silly make believe ghost story." "I don't think so . . ." replied Toby mysteriously. "What do you mean? Is the story true?" "Well, my Driver told me the story off a television show that studies legends like this. Every episode is supposedly based off a true event." "Nonsense! That's it! I'm going with them! I'm not afraid of ghosts anyway." "Sez you." That night, after they'd finish their mail routes, Thomas and Percy met Daisy at the Viaduct. "Look who decided to tag along," teased Percy. "Shut up! I just came here to watch you freak out about nothing," retorted Daisy. (Percy rolls his eyes) Percy and Daisy were on one side of the Viaduct and Thomas on the other. "Night vision goggles. These are the best," boasted Percy's Driver. "Yeah. I've got all sorts of ghost hunting gear here," added Percy's Fireman. "Even this!" (pulls out a vacuum cleaner) (Daisy speaks in a sarcastic voice) "What are you going to do with that? Clean my carpets?" "No . . . I can suck the ghost into it." "After that, can I use it to clean her carpet?" asked Daisy's Driver. (Percy's Fireman ignores him) "Get ready," called Thomas. The engines' crew communicated via the cab radio telephone, but, in the middle of the night, they stopped working. "That's odd," said Thomas' Driver. Suddenly, a shrill whistle sounded! And suddenly, right on the Viaduct, they saw the ghost train! "Oh my goodness, it's real!" shrieked Daisy. "We told you!" Thomas's Fireman got it all on tape. Soon, the ghost train reached the middle of the Viaduct and disappeared. Thomas's Fireman replayed the video, but much to their shock, the ghost engine didn't appear! "That's odd. How could that be?" The next morning, they told Toby what had happened. "I can't believe it! It was true!" "Hey! I didn't know it was actually true either," replied Toby. Thomas, Percy and Daisy's ghost hunt soon caught the attention of many shows based off ghosts, legends, paranormal activity and strange occurances. Lots of them came to try and proved the ghost real. Most saw it, but when they filmed on camera, the ghost engine didn't appear. Many who went and studied this phenomenon believed there was a ghost train. Many viewers thought that it was absolutely ridiculous, though some still believed. Thomas and Percy are still suspicious about it. Sometimes, it appears when they take the mail and sometimes it doesn't. Ultimately, no one will ever know if its true or not. But we know ghosts aren't real . . . (ghost engines crosses half the Viaduct and disappears) Right? The End. Characters *Thomas *Percy *Toby *Dodger *Daisy *Skarloey *Annie and Clarabel *Owen *Sir Topham Hatt *"The Ghost Train" (non-speaking role) *Mavis (non-speaking role) *Paxton (mentioned) *Rheneas (mentioned) *Duncan (mentioned) *Rheneas (role dropped) Locations *Knapford *Ffarquhar *Ffarquhar Sheds *The Viaduct *Maron *Vicarstown *Blue Mountain Quarry *Dryaw *Cronk *Tidmouth Trivia *This is the first Halloween themed short in Adventures on Rails. *Rumours of this short began in late 2014. Then, in November 2014, it was officially confirmed along with a "End of the Railway" themed short. *The short will be based on the ghost train story in the Railway Series story and TV series episode, "Ghost Train" by the Rev. W. Awdry and the ghost engine seen in the fifth season episode, "Duncan Gets Spooked" *The first trailer was released on April 7th, 2015. Later on May 1st, an exclusive clip was also released. On October 17th, a second trailer was released. *Skarloey references the events in the Railway Series book "Very Old Engines". *Rheneas was meant to appear in the short, but was cut out in the final script. Category:Adventures on Rails Category:Short